Meaning

noun a comb for separating flax fibers

verb comb with a heckle

verb challenge aggressively

originTransferred usage of Middle English hekelen (“to comb flax or hemp with a heckle”), from hekele (“a comb for flax or hemp”), from Middle Dutch hekelen (“to prickle, irritate”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakilōn, from Proto-Germanic *hakilōną, related to *hakô (“hook”). Related to hackle.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0